Come so Close
by ChaosSurplus
Summary: Suddenly finding himself in a huge heap of trouble, Jett Kirkland has been given two options: hard time or community service. He picks the obvious choice. He quickly realizes that nothing is as hard as trying to get close to someone.
1. Chapter 1

_Author's Notes:_

This story is my own tribute to the Hetalia fanfiction which I adore so much. It features one of my favorite pairings: Australia x New Zealand.

Constructive criticism is more than welcome. Also, as my page states: please give me verbs or anything! Anyone who helps me expand my vocabulary will have my love and affection.

Finally, I would like to thank author Terra Saltt for helping me get this chapter out.

* * *

The ticking was going to drive me insane. The noise from the clock on the wall above the desk in front of me had been my sole form of entertainment for the better part of an hour. It was as if the people here had purposely placed it there, for everyone waiting to see. The clock was like a countdown meter, but you had no idea when your time was up. If I was not making an effort not to prove myself a completely unstable individual, I would have torn it off the wall and shattered the thing to pieces long ago.

However, there was a woman sitting at the desk before me, answering the phone and typing on the computer before her. Every so often, she would glance over at me as if certain I was preparing to make a break for it at any moment. You would think that the sliding bared doors would do the trick, but I guess you can never be too careful when it comes to criminals.

My hopes of destroying the demon clock ruined, I sighed and leaned forward more, the chair a creaking mixture of fake steel and cheap plastic. The color, bright orange, a striking comparison to the dull whites and greys that comprised the rest of the scenery. With the exception of the blue police uniforms, of course.

When had I become a "dangerous criminal"? Not one person had stated this aloud, but the thought was there. In every glance that was thrown my way to every sudden reaction to every movement I made. The air was thick and tense with accusation.

An office door opened, a man coming out to call someone else in before shutting the door once more. Honestly, how long did they plan to keep me waiting? Other than the low null of voices and casual shuffling of papers, the building was dead quiet. The false lighting casting ominous shadows over everything in sight. This place was only getting freakier the longer they kept me sitting here, waiting for some unknown being to send me plummeting into my fate.

"Jett Kirkland."

I jolted at hearing my name being called. If I could find my ability to breath, I probably would have screamed too. Now that it was actually my turn all the longing had vanished completely. Suddenly, I was struck with the feeling that I was not ready yet. I did not move—for a moment I wondered if I even could. I could feel the eyes trained on me and the stress in the air. Everyone, the lady at the desk and the police guarding the exits, were waiting for me to make my move. Through the corner of my eye, I could see the guards exchange a look before one of them made a move towards me. The drumming in my chest almost completely drowning out the sound of the footsteps approaching. Their owner cutting off the guard and standing between us.

"Jett Kirkland?" the voice spoke once again.

Even though I was not certain how this mess even happened, I also knew I could not get out of it. Slowly, I lifted my head to face the voice. The man standing tall, but somehow patiently, in front of me was tall, maybe even more so than me. His face wore a serious expression matching that of his pristine suit. He stared at me for a moment before he nodded and turned, gesturing me to follow.

I entered his office, him closing the door after me. The office was just as perfect as he was – orderly, clean and professional. There was one small window showing the clear sky and providing the room with natural light. For some odd reason, I felt a lot calmer than before. He moved forward to sit behind a perfectly organized desk which had a simple plague sitting on top. The message was so clear that for a moment I wondered why I still felt like I did not understand.

**Ludwig Beilschmidt - Juvenile ****Probation Officer**

"Please have a seat." He said gruffly, motioning for me to take the seat in the chair on the side opposite of him. The chair was slightly more comfortable than the one outside in the hallway, not by a lot, but still better and it was not that terrible prison uniform orange color. I did so as he removed a file from his drawer. Now that my nerves were not on edge so much, I noted that the man – _Ludwig_ – had a very strongly accented voice.

"Vell, Mr. Kirkland, I'm sure you know vhy you here." Ludwig replied shortly, arranging documents on his desk and grabbing a pen from the black cup on the desk.

"Uhhh…" I really had no idea how to answer that. It did not really matter, though, because Ludwig cut me off immediately.

"As you are a minor, the law has arranged for you to have allowances. You vill be given a period of community service that, if completed successfully, vill relieve you of hard time in jail, prison, or juvenile hall." Ludwig sounded as if he had given this speech many times before, making it sound very nonchalant.

Community service? That could not be all bad, right? From my understanding that meant a lot of time working outside or at shelters and stuff. Much better than rotting away in a tiny cell for who knows how long.

"Hey, so…what kind of community service" I interrupted. Ludwig's words stopped completely as his gaze moved to my face. The inquisitive look he was giving me had me squirming as far back into my chair as I could manage. Ludwig folded his hands on the desk and leaned forward.

"Mr. Kirkland, you see mein bruder has been in …similar situations…" Ludwig paused there for a moment, closing his eyes as if to fight off an oncoming headache. "He managed to vork off some of his time vith a vellness center."

_Wellness center? What, a place for sick people?_ I was not aware that criminals were allowed to work with sick people. Surely someone would be concerned about me suffocating someone with a pillow or slitting another's throat with their dinner spoon. I would not put it past anyone to think me capable of that at this point.

"Are you sure that it's okay for me to work with sick people?" I questioned Ludwig, trying to put my thoughts into my words the best way possible. Ludwig merely continued writing down whatever it was he was writing. I vaguely wondered if he was writing some examination essay. What if this whole thing was just an interview to see if I was worth community service? I hoped I was not failing.

"Vellness centers are not so much for sick people as they are for people vho have trouble caring for themselves, and no, normally ve do not assign such tasks as community service." Aha! My suspicions were confirmed. There had to be some alternative reason for claiming me capable to care for someone else.

"Then why…?" I drew out in order to explain my confusion. Though it may have only served to make me look dumb. I was often told that I, more often than not, did not always reek of some charming level of intelligence. Or any, most of the time.

"Listen. Mein bruder still volunteers at a certain vellness center. There is a tenet there that has not been…" Ludwig's sentence stopped as he clearly looked for the right word "…vorking vell with community volunteers or the doctors, even. Everyone is vorried. The staff there is hoping that the tenet vill improve if there was someone around the same age to socialize vith."

I just stared at him in somewhat disbelief. So my punishment was to keep someone company? That sounded so simple that there was no way I could believe it to be true. Just until a moment ago, it seemed like I was going to be locked away forever. Ludwig must have caught onto my doubt, because he let out a sigh and pushed a pamphlet that he had with the rest of the file, MY file, towards me.

"Look." Ludwig began while rubbing his temples. "If the doctors feel that you und the tenet just aren't vorking out, then I vill find another means of community service for you."

I smiled widely at Ludwig, when I heard that. Mostly in relief at how well everything had turned out. At least if this person was totally unreasonable, I would not be blamed completely.

"Alright—" I began cheerfully. Probably too cheerfully, because Ludwig did not seem altogether pleased with my answer.

"However, you must at least try. If I feel that you aren't even doing that much, then I vill mark you for violating your probation und you vill face adult charges. Understand?" Ludwig's tone was deadly serious, now.

My smile faded for some reason when I heard his tone, saw his expression. I looked at the pamphlet that had been pushed in front of me, not daring to touch it. I was not fully certain I wanted to read the cover. It was not as if I was thinking that I could sneak by with easy punishment. I knew, despite what people seemed to think, how serious my situation was …and how serious the tenet's situation must be if doctors were desperate enough to send a criminal in.

Slowly, steeling myself as if it was going to burn me, I reached out and took hold of the pamphlet lying in front of me. It would be alright, after all.

All I had to do was become someone's friend.

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This chapter drove me insane, but it sets the stage, so please bear with me. Thank you for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

_Author's Notes:_

As I was writing this, someone told me that it was not as if I was getting paid and to just post whatever I had. Then I remembered:

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Hetalia or the characters. I only own the plot. I am not making any money from this. This goes for the previous chapter as well.

Also, I would like to thank MyLifeAsHuman for the kind review, as well as everyone else who has spent their time following and reading this story. I am sorry this chapter took so long.

* * *

The Sunny Hill Wellness Center. The name matched the sign on the brick wall that surrounded the building and the one on my pamphlet. The address was correct as well. It all made sense; this had to be the right place. Yet I stood there out in the frosty late winter air, just staring at the building before me.

From what I managed to squeeze out of Ludwig, Mr. Beilschmidt to his face, the building had once been some sort of tavern or possibly a small hotel for people to get away and socialize in. However, the building was eventually inherited by a doctor who converted it into the wellness center. Though, Sunny Hill did not much look the part: the entire structure was only three stories tall. The architectural style resembled that of a simple rectangle brick house.

I shook of my shock of how seemingly normal the appearance of the place was and cautiously approached the large front double-doors. I raised my hand, but stopped it midway. Was I supposed to knock? There was not any sign of a doorbell. My hand instead moved to test the old curve-handled doorknob on one of the doors. The doors were not locked, I determined after the one had budged and cracked open a bit with a little force. I pushed it the rest of the way open and stepped inside and onto the inner mat.

The room was fairly small, like a waiting room. A large oval front desk was placed against the left wall. Behind it lied a series of little cabinets that resembled mail boxes. Each one of the boxes had a keyhole and a number on it. Other than that, there was a set of doors on straight across from the entrance, and four chairs pressed against the right wall with a little table sitting evenly between them.

Shutting the door carefully behind me, I tiptoed toward the front desk, looking around as I did so. I was told that I had to check in so the staff and Ludwig would know I was here. However, there were no people to be seen and place was dead quiet. When I reached the desk, I could not see any sign of a bell or anything else to call someone. I knew that I probably should not just start walking around without permission either.

"Hello?" I tried calling in hopes of alerting someone of my presence. In the back of my mind, I noted that the walls were all painted this painfully intense yellow. It was like trying to look into the sun itself.

"Who the hell are you!?" A rough voice exclaimed from behind me, breaking the former silence.

I whirled around to face a very tall and built man with a dark complexion. He had a broom in one hand and a dustpan in the other. Neither did any harm to his rough appearance as he stood with a terrifying expression on his face. When I did not reply, the man gave that as his queue to continue.

"No solicitors, kid!" He pointed his broom at me like a sword. "Beat it!"

"Whoa, what!?" I cried as I held my hands up in defense. "I'm not selling anything—I'm a volunteer!"

"Oh yeah?" He questioned angrily, his dark eyes narrowed, though he did not lower his broom.

"…Yeah." I mimicked. I was not really sure what else to say. Was this guy some sort of security guard or something? I think private health residencies had those kinds of people.

"Elizabeta!" He barked so loudly that I was certain I felt the room shake. I waited for him to elaborate, but he just stood there glaring at me in silence. It was awkward to say the least, but this was broken by the other doors bursting open. A young woman with long brown hair appeared. She was wearing some kind of maid-like outfit and was holding the door open with one hand. In the other she held a heavy frying pan which she swished towards the man.

"Sadik! Just how many times do I—"

"We got a live one." He stated, completely ignoring her obvious rage and metal threat.

The woman stalled a moment, giving the man a confused look before her eyes drifted over and discovered me still pressed up against the desk counter.

"Oh! Hello!" She exclaimed as she lowered her weapon and walked over to me with shocking gracefulness in comparison to her previous stance.

I relaxed the slightest bit at this. For a second I was sure there was going to be some kind of household utensil battle. I also did not think Ludwig would take that as an excuse for me to take off at full speed away from this place.

"I'm Elizabeta Héderváry. I'm the nurse here." She meant to continue, but Sadik broke her off there. During the conversation, he had moved over to the small table, yanked a piece of cloth out of his back pocket and began wiping it.

"They couldn't find anyone else desperate enough to work the long hours for the shitty pay." He cut in without looking at us.

"And this is Sadik. He's a bum who can't clean." Miss Héderváry chirped. She was smiling but she was also looking as Sadik while tapping her frying pan in her hand.

So these people were not the security guard and the maid, but the janitor and the nurse. If I was not in fear the continuation of the previous duel, I would have taken more time in thinking over the unorthodox manner of this place. I felt I should introduce myself instead.

"Hello, Miss Héderváry, I'm Jett Kirkland." I tried to sound as polite as possible. I was stepping on a landmine here and I was wary of what would set it off.

Miss Héderváry turned back to me once more, smiling. "Yes, Ludwig told us to expect you." With that, she walked around the desk counter and pulled out a simple bound notebook. It had "Visiting Registry" written on it. Miss Héderváry walked back around to my side and began flipping through it. She passed through one section that lasted several pages in a row, with each line filled with this general scheme: Gilbert B. Gilbert, Alfred, Master Awesome, Gilbert, Alfred, AWESOME IS HERE, Gilbert, The Hero, Yes I'm here and so is Gilbird,…The ink colors ranged everything from black to neon pink and there were doodles all over the pages as well.

"I keep telling myself to put dividers in here." Miss Héderváry stated as she continued to pass through sections. "Aha! Here we are!" She claimed cheerfully. "Just write your full name and the date." She pushed the book towards me, reaching in her apron to pull out a pen. I took it, but hesitated when I looked down at the book.

The first page of the section was crisp white and unmarred. It seemed like a crime to ruin it, but after a moment and a small noise from Miss Héderváry, I broke out of my trance and brought the pen down on the paper. Removing my hand, I looked down once more at the page.

The name _"Jett Kirkland"_ was now imprinted on the first line of the section simply titled _"Hari"_.

"Alright, then." Miss Héderváry shut the book and turned to me. "Let me show you the way up." She turned and led me through the doors she had come from. The room on the other side was far bigger than the first. There was a television, two couches placed around a coffee table, a bookshelf, and, oddly enough, a grand piano in one of the corners. Also, there was a set of stairs with an elevator next to them, but there was a "For Tenant Use Only" sign above the up and down buttons to the door's side.

"This is the lounge. The first floor has this room, the entry room, dining room, kitchen, and a small bathroom. The personal rooms are on the floors above and each level also has a proper bathroom and a storage closet." Miss Héderváry continued as we began walking up the stairs.

Here I was expecting cold tiles, accompanied by the stench of sterile tools and medication. When we reached the second floor, Miss Héderváry turned and moved onto the third floor. I went to follow, but not before I looked down the hall at a door that was cracked open. I could not look long however, for the moment my eyes hit it, the door slammed shut.

All reason could not stop the hairs rising on my neck as I practically ran up the stairs to catch up with Miss Héderváry on the third floor. "It's the last room down the hall." She explained as we made our way down it.

The doors in the hallway had plaques on them; all but two at the end were blank. As I followed Miss Héderváry past the first one, I noticed that the plaque on the door was shaped and painted to look like a tomato. It looked hand-made, it's painted wood carved with eager attentiveness and care. In the tomato's middle, written in large loopy letters, was the name "Lovi". The "I" was dotted with a heart.

We came to a stop at the last door. The plaque on this door matched the other blank ones in the hallway with the exception of the removable and reusable letters on it spelling out one word:

**HARI **

Miss Héderváry knocked her hand against the door with her knuckles. "Hari! Can I come in?"

"Sure." Answered a soft voice from the inside.

Miss Héderváry opened the door and walked inside, motioning for me to follow her. The room was tiny, I first noted. It had a bed and desk pressed up against the opposite wall with a window between them. Other than that, the only other furniture was a wardrobe placed against the wall with the bed.

My eyes, however, landed on the wheelchair next to the bed. I only looked a second before turning my eyes downwards towards the floor instead. I was too afraid to look at the figure lying on the bed…and I was ashamed of that.

"I have a surprise for you, Hari." I heard Miss Héderváry state kindly. "This is Jett. He's our newest volunteer."

"Hey…" I stated weakly, not looking up. I was starting to get really uncomfortable now. I almost wished that I was still having a staring contest with Sadik.

There was no reply, but Miss Héderváry seemed altogether undeterred. She walked back towards the door, telling us to "have fun" before she left and went on her way. I watched her go, almost going to stop her and beg her not to leave me alone. I did not stop her; my body was like a lead weight, determined to make me serve my punishment.

Dragging myself over to the side of the bed, I waited helplessly for Hari to break the silence. It never happened and, after a time, my eyes darted up for a second before shooting away again. I felt relieved, though.

Hari was not looking at me either.

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Thanks for reading!


	3. Chapter 3

_Author's Notes:_

If anyone is still out there:

One of my peers inquired to our Professor how much writing one of my courses would have. The answer: "So much you won't have time to SPIT."

Needless to say, university has it in for me. I would like to thank all my readers, followers and reviewers, and, shockingly enough, favorite-teers for everything, but I do not think I will be putting up another chapter till the end of the term. I will continue working and try to update as fast as possible, though.

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Hetalia or the characters. I only own the plot. I am not making any money from this.

* * *

It had been two days since my first shamefully poor visit to Sunny Hill. On the night of my first visit the weather has suddenly become a mass of heavy snowfall and fierce winds. Public transportation had been all but shut down due to the inability to keep the roads clear. Sydney and Peter had been ecstatic about missing Monday's classes. They had spent the entire day playing games, watching television and drinking hot cocoa.

If only I could have shared in their carefree activities. I had spent most of both Sunday and Monday staring hopelessly out of the various windows of the house. Only Arthur's constant, annoyed assurance that it would take me hours to navigate through the storm to Sunny Hill kept me from trying my luck. If I was lucky enough to find the building at all that is.

Why I was so eager to get back to Sunny Hill, I could not say for sure. My first visit with Hari had gone terribly—far worse than I had thought it would when I accepted Ludwig's proposal. At least, I had expected the person I was to see to at least be willing to speak with me. Yet, during the entire time I had spent in there with Hari in his room, he had remained a silent, unmoving form.

I shivered as a particularly strong gust hit me. Rough winter winds only serving to intensify the already low temperature. I tucked my face further into my scarf and pushed my hands deeper into my pockets. I usually never minded being outdoors, but it was days such as these that made me wish I still had my car. From the looks of it, though, I would not be driving again anytime soon.

When I reached the entranceway of Sunny Hill, I had to halt for a moment to think over what I was seeing. The entire area behind the brick walls that surrounded the structure was heaped full of snow. Piles lied, unmanaged all over the place and the walkway had completely vanished from sight. Only the sign of footsteps dragging from where I stood at the gate to the front door showed any evidence that someone or a few people had been coming in and out of Sunny Hill.

"What… the…hell…." I grumbled angrily as I fought my way through well over a foot of snow. Once the snow had stopped in the early hours of the morning, someone from every house in town and the sweepers had begun working immediately to clear it. After Arthur, Peter, Sydney and I had cleared our pathway and sidewalk, Peter and Sydney even had enough snow at their disposal to create a line of "Guard Snowmen" along both sides of the pathway. Why had not anyone bothered to clean this snow up? Or at least get it off the main pathway to make it easier for Sunny Hill's inhabitants.

When I finally was successful in reaching the front entrance, I hastily tripped through and inside onto the mat. There was no trace of anyone again, but that did not stop me from carefully closing the door and sneaking inside like a house invader. Perhaps if I was quiet, Sadik would never have to know I was even here. It was wishful thinking, but I would rather not have to deal with Sadik's seemingly perpetual bad mood every time I visited.

The Visiting Registry Notebook was lying on the counter this time. I wasted no time opening it, thumbing through its pages, looking for Hari's section. When I saw Hari's name on that empty page with the exception of my last signature accompanying it, the anxieties that had been becoming increasingly haunting began to resurface. What would I do if Hari never talked to me, would the two of us just stay sitting still in that room forever. Or only until Ludwig, the Center's workers or Hari had enough. As I slinked up the staircase to Hari's floor, glancing around corners and dodging past doorways, I wondered how long Ludwig would let me continue these kinds of visits.

Pushing these depressing thoughts aside and taking a deep breath, I knocked on Hari's door. I waited, but only silence answered me. I knocked again, a bit louder this time.

"Hari?" I whispered quietly, fearing that Sadik would be close at hand. Again, no one answered. What if Hari was not in his room, I thought with a bit of panic. If he was not here then I would either have to take a chance sneaking around to find him or ask someone…Neither idea sounded good nor very smart.

Thankfully, the doors were not equipped with locks, so I opened the door a tad and peeked through the crack.

Hari was lying in his bed like the last time I visited. His gaze was focused downwards, lost in the book he held in his hands. I opened the door fully and forcefully then, hoping Hari had not noticed my cautious actions beforehand.

"Hey Hari! Can I come in?" I tried. A part of me wishing that the nervousness and awkwardness of our first meeting would just disappear.

Hari's only response was to turn his whole upper body around as far towards the wall as possible.

_No_.

Knowing fully well that that was the best permission I was going to get, I took the few steps I had to cross the room, leaving the door wide open behind me, and pulled out the chair of the desk. I would have liked to leave the door closed so that no one passing would see me, but the last thing I wanted was to cut off the small amount of outside world keeping me from being all alone in silence with Hari. I sat myself down while trying to swallow the rising guilt of understanding very well that I was storming into Hari's personal space. A space that he clearly did not want a stranger like me intruding into. Yet, there was also another small feeling, some uncertain emotion, which screamed that until Hari told me to leave himself, then I would not.

Despite this conviction, I still had no idea really what to say to Hari.

"So…how have you been?" Hari said nothing.

No, I could not expect getting Hari to talk to be that easy. Looking around his room I searched for a topic—anything to build a conversation on. The room was barren as it had been the first day, however, and left no clues for a topic.

"Pretty bad weather the last couple of days, huh?" Hari flipped the page of his book.

I tried to swallow my despaired sigh. The conversation was getting nowhere and neither was my relationship standing with Hari. My venturing eyes fell on the wheelchair still sitting next to the bed. There were several books stacked on top of it.

"Do you like to read?" I resisted the urge to punch myself in the head repeatedly, dropping my head into my hands instead. By this point, I was sure that even Hari could tell how clueless I was. I could only imagine the look Hari would be given me if he would have been willing to acknowledge my presence.

Taking a breath, I looked up slightly from my hands and took a moment to study Hari. It was now that I realized that I had never really taken a good look at him before. I was too shaken when we first met to take in any details about him—the person named Hari.

To put it simply, he was small. Even with just a glance, I could tell that much. If he should stand, I was sure I would be quite a bit taller than him. He had short yet wild looking hair from where I sat with two particularly curly parts on both sides of his head, the light dirty-blond locks stopping around the start of his fragile-looking neck. The spinal bones were visible enough to be disturbing, disappearing into the collar of his shirt. Hari's arms were no better, merely sticks wrapped in pale skin.

While staring at his arms, I realized that Hari was wearing a short-sleeved shirt. I could not recall if he had been wearing one the last time I had seen him. Perhaps he was just really used to with the gentle cold that seeped into the rooms of Sunny Hill.

Suddenly, I noticed movement at the door from the corner of my eye and found a man standing in the doorway. He looked in his mid-twenties with slightly curled brown hair and a tanned complexion. There was a look of surprise written on his face before it melted away into a friendly smile. Nodding politely at me, he approached Hari.

"Hola, Hari. How are you today?"

Hari did not look up from his book nor did he answer, but the man seemed undisturbed and continued.

"I brought some more tomatoes with me today." He reached into his grocery bag and produced a large tomato that he set down on Hari's bed next to him.

"It is good for you, so eat it soon while it's fresh."

Hari did not answer, though it did not matter because once that sentence was finished, the man turned his tomato leaf green eyes on me.

"And you are?" He asked offhandedly.

I did not answer at first. I was shocked to see someone else coming to see Hari. From what Ludwig had said, I thought that Hari did not get many visitors. A million questions from who this guy was to how he knew Hari began flying all at once into my head. The sudden confusion mixing with a sharp nervousness to make a jumbled mess in my mind.

"Hello, I'm Jett Kirkland." I finally replied with all the eloquence of a boy introducing himself to his crush's father.

The man only laughed, which eased the embarrassment that had heated up my face in the last few seconds.

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you too. I am Antonio Carriedo—"

"HEY!" A booming voiced yelled into the room. I shot up a foot in my chair, almost falling out of it completely. Hari and Antonio, did not react at all. If fact, they were altogether unfazed by both the abrupt yell and to see Sadik standing with an all too familiar angry gaze in the doorway.

Antonio turned to look at Hari again for a moment and then looked at me once more. I gave him an inquisitive look, waiting for him to continue, but he seemed to think better of it. Instead Antonio simply turned to leave.

"See you later Hari." Antonio got to the doorway where he paused. "It was nice meeting you, Jett." He added as in afterthought. With one last smile at Sadik, Antonio left Hari, Sadik and I alone. I was dangerously tempted to call him back and beg him not to leave me alone with Hari AND Sadik. I was sure that if I could not handle them separately, then there was no way I could deal with them together. The instant Antonio had mad his departure, Sadik wasted no time rounding on me.

"YOU!" He pointed at me accusingly. "Come with me."

"Huh? …Why?" I replied stupidly while my head shot from him to Hari several times. Sadik did not find my display amusing nor did he seem to appreciate my question.

"Because I said so, dammit! Now come on!" He snapped back angrily, his scowl still fiercely in place.

I turned to take another long look at Hari. I was anxious to leave his side now that I had finally found my way back to it. I had hoped that I could make up for my shitty conduct during our last meeting. So far I was failing, yes, but I had not been here long enough to count this visit as a failure. The least Sadik could do was give me a little time to actually be around Hari.

I could hear Sadik tapping his feet impatiently at my reluctance.

"Hari, can I take him?"

I did not even have time to look at Sadik in shock of his question before Hari gave a strong and definite nod of his head, the clearest and only form of answer I had seen from him since I heard him answer Miss Héderváry through the door. Hell, if it was not for that first event, I would have surely been convinced that Hari was mute.

"There you have it. Move it." He commanded as if speaking to some kind of disobedient dog.

Even though Hari had not asked me directly to leave, he had given someone else permission to take me away. Deep down, I just could not force Hari to be around me if he did not want me to be. If he was even willing to react to get me away…or maybe Sadik was just someone that Hari did acknowledge like Miss Héderváry. Without a word or complaint, I followed Sadik out of the room and down the hall, glaring at the back of his head as if I had the power to make it explode. A frustrated anger starting had begun boiling in my chest.

"Thought you'd just sneak in didn't ya?" Sadik commented snidely.

So I was busted, then. Rather than return his comment with an equal malice, I turned to glare at the wall instead, its horrifying yellow already causing a drilling headache in my muddled mind. Sadik must have at some point looked back at me because he noticed where my strained face was looking.

"Ugly paint, yeah? We got it cheap on sale, because no one else would buy it. Paint was worth it though, covered the stuff up real nicely."

This tone was oddly level and normal sounding. It was so different from before, but it sounded like Sadik was making an attempt at pleasant conversation.

"What kind of stuff?" I asked him when I had gotten somewhat over my stump.

He looked at me, his lip curled up ever so slightly. "…Ugly wallpaper."

The statement made complete sense. Yet, something in that slight smile and tone made my steps slow down to increase the distance between us.

We continued the rest of the way without conversation, something I could not say I was displeased with myself, before arriving at the front door. I stopped short of it, thinking that Sadik was going to try throwing me out again. My fear died down a bit when he walked out the door ahead of me and I walked out onto the porch after him. Sadik was kicking the snow around the side of the steps, grumbling to himself as he did so. He found what he was looking for quick enough, reaching down to dig out a snow shovel from the snow before turning to thrust it into my chest.

"Uhh…what's this?" I asked hesitantly, after fumbling to take hold of the shovel.

"What do you think, _**volunteer**_?"

…_Oh…dammit…_

* * *

How long I had been tossing snow over my shoulders and off the walk I did not know—it could have been hours. When I had finally finished the main pathway and tried to go back to Hari, I had been stopped by Sadik who insisted that I shovel the entire inner garden path that surrounded Sunny Hill. When I had asked why a garden path was even needed in winter, Sadik had countered with the fact that it was necessary if I ever wanted inside Sunny Hill again. I was on the last side now, but that did nothing to lift my murderous mood.

Sadik had clearly saved this special chore for me. I certainly hopped he did not plan to have me doing his job every time I made an appearance. If so then I might never get a chance to spend some actual time with Hari. I stared in my thinking-induced daze at the growing fluttering shadows beneath me.

Wait…

My head shot up just in time to catch sight of pages and pages of paper falling all around me onto the garden path and into the snow at its sides. Dropping the shovel, I rushed to gather them before the snow could completely wreck whatever they were. Once I was sure I had them all, my gaze returned upwards from where they had fallen. The only logical answer was a window on the second floor that was, strangely enough, open on this cold and windy day.

Setting the shovel against the porch where Sadik had first retrieved it, I entered Sunny Hill for the second time that day aiming for the second floor. The pages from the sky were letters, by the looks of them. I could not really tell though because the writing was in what appeared to be French.

"I'm **SORRY** Mattie!" Came a pleading, loud voice out of nowhere.

I only had enough time after turning the corner to glance up from the letters before something solid crashed head-on into me. Both the object and I rebounded, hard, onto the floor, the letters going flying everywhere around us. When I had managed to pull myself up into sitting position, I glared angrily towards whatever had hit me. My anger evaporated immediately at the sight of the equally stunned teenager in front of me. He had both hands on the rims of a pair of glasses, head tilted downwards, trying to get them straight again. When he had succeeded he opened violet eyes which immediately caught sight of the settling pages in front of him.

The young man's head zipped all around at the scattered letters, one odd curled hair swishing in his confused shock, before his eyes caught sight of my shoes in front of him. He froze, his line of vision rising slowly up to my face. When it got there, the young man jerked backwards, but did not run like I expected him to. His nervous, wide violet eyes alternating between my face and the letters around us.

"You okay, Mattie?" a concerned voice came from behind him as a pair of hands moved to grasp his shoulders. Apparently broken from his paralyzed state, the young man quickly sat up on his knees and began scrambling to gather the letters off the floor. He twitched, movements even more jerky, as I moved onto my knees to help collect the fallen letters.

"Did you get those outside?" The eager voice from before asked, sounding hopeful.

I looked up to find a nearly identical looking teenager with straighter hair and bluer eyes standing behind the first. Neither of them could have been very different in age than me—only a few years older or so.

"Yeah, they started falling from the sky a moment ago." I commented, gently holding out the letters I had collected to the teenager cradling the others on the floor. The other teen beamed at my answer looking down towards the other.

"See Mattie? You got them back, so don't be mad, alright?" The second teenager pleaded with the one still hunched on the ground.

"Mattie" did not answer the other. He merely meekly took the papers I had held out for him, stood quickly and with one last nervous glance at me, took off back in the direction from whence he came. I just sat on my heels watching his retreat helplessly with the second teen.

"You new here, dude?" He asked, turning to face me once the other had disappeared completely from sight.

"I guess. I'm volunteering here right now." I replied, as I stood.

"Really!? That's awesome man. This place hasn't seen volunteers in forever. They usually don't come back after the first or second visit!"

"Really?" I tried to sound surprised even as an image of Sadik and Miss Héderváry flashed through my mind.

"Yeah! The only people who stick around always end up being the ones who are just visiting."

A creeping feeling of unease was working its way up my spine. I wondered if he could be referring to that Antonio guy too.

"I'm Alfred by the way and the guy who ran away is my brother, Mattie." Alfred nearly yelled, turning to run down the hall in the same direction. "I'll see you next time, maybe!"

Well…that certainly did not make me feel any better about my situation with Hari. I sighed as I moved once again towards Hair's room. As trite as it seemed, I felt that I should at least try talking to Hari a bit more before I gave up for the day.

Walking down Hari's floor's hallway I stopped at the tomato door. I heard the faint sound of music accompanied by louder sounding curses. I continued past towards Hari's still wide open door, suddenly feeling horribly guilty for not closing the door I had opened.

Walking quietly over, I took a peek inside Hari's room. Hari was still turned around facing the wall just as I had left him. However, sometime after my departure, his hand had moved to grasp the tomato still sitting next to him on the bed. The grip he had on the poor fruit was so tight, that it was partially squished in his hand, the juices leaking out from between his fingers. From my new position at the door, I could partially see the part of his face that was not covered by his erratic hair. Hari's lips were sealed in an overly tight line, as if struggling not to let a single tiny sound escape.

Instead of entering, I turned to speed walked back to the front door. Once out of the house I sped off in the direction of my house in a dead run.

I felt it again, an odd burning frustration in my chest.

I wanted it to stop.

I wanted Hari to notice me.

* * *

This chapter has ended up being 3,666 words. Yep…three sixes… That is what I will say my feelings for this chapter are.

Thank you for reading!


	4. Chapter 4

**_Author's Notes:_**

I am really sorry to everyone who received a really late answer to a review or was waiting for this chapter. Several things kept me away from for a long time.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Hetalia.

* * *

The office was even cleaner than I had remembered it. Every item was in its previous perfect condition, as if not one thing had even been touched since my departure. Sadly, the eerie fears that surrounded the building and all that within its inner walls had so as well. Ludwig sat across from me, sorting my file on his desk once again as he had done our first meeting.

"So, I hear that you have been introduced to Hari?" Ludwig stated while scribbling something on an unknown sheet that would certainly be filed away.

I looked down at my lap and nodded in affirmation. When I left this far too neat office the first time, I had been confident that I could improve my situation somehow. Yet, here I was once again, in Ludwig's office, with the only thing I could report being that **nothing** had happened. The mixed scent of various cleaners was beginning to give me a headache.

"Good." Ludwig replied, still scratching with his pen. "At least ve have your first visit on record for later—"

"What, exactly, is wrong with Hari?" I asked, cutting Ludwig off. I had a tendency to rudely inttrupt this man it seemed. I was never very good at sitting down and keeping quiet, even with Arthur countless instructions to do in times when politeness was a necessity. I could hear his pen still and then the gentle clank of it being set down on the desk.

"It's confidential between the patient and the doctors."

I partly expected such a response: of course it was. Another part of me had desperately hoping that Ludwig would provide me with something. If not a direct answer, even just a clue of what the problem was. Anything about what was wrong with Hari.

"Also,…" An oddly uncertain voice continued before trailing off. I shot onto the desk, startling Ludwig. My upper body nearly lying over it as I wordlessly pleaded with Ludwig to continue. It took a second for Ludwig to get over his shock and even then he did not continue right away. He stared at my pleading face, seeming to be thinking over what he wanted to say.

"Also, no one really knows." There was his ultimate answer.

I slumped backwards into my chair, shoulders slouched and arms hanging at my sides. I could not hide all of the overwhelming disappointment that I felt. Yet, it was not like I could expect anything more either. In my short visits with Hari, it had become obvious to me that whatever was wrong with Hari was not the only thing wrong with him.

"…Others have tried…" Ludwig continued slowly and I moved to face him, shocked at his sudden willingness to talk about Hari. "Tried…reasoning with Hari, I suppose. However, nothing seemed to ever change anything and eventually other volunteers gave up trying."

Suddenly, I felt angry. At what I was not sure: maybe at Ludwig or maybe something else, but it was there itching under my skin.

I stood, nearly slamming my palms against the perfect wood of Ludwig's perfect desk.

"What do you expect me to do then!?" I barked angrily at him. Not caring if it was smart to act as such with my probation officer, in a place with cells and police all around. Ludwig did not move an inch, my earlier pleading expression having more impact on his outwards reaction than my anger did. Ludwig merely clasped his hands together over his desk before answering me shortly.

"Nothing."

With that he concluded our meeting and we parted without so much as another word. I nearly stormed out of the building, unable to get over the strange anger that was burning inside of me. It was probably for the best that it was a bit of a walk home. Within minutes the cold air was helping to cool the raging feeling on my skin.

I released a large, misty breath as I made my way down the main street towards home. Needless to say, Ludwig's words had not been all that helpful in figuring out how to get Hari to open up to me more. If anything, the realization that that there were other people who had attempted to be friends with Hari and gave up only made me even more concerned. For all I knew, I was doing the exact same things that someone else had tried before.

I stopped at a crosswalk, looking around the intersection for any passing cars. I halted before I made to cross. A splash of vibrant color in the snow had drawn my attention from the street ahead to the snow bank on the opposite side of the street. From my viewpoint, it looked as if a small piece of red cloth or garbage, but I really could not tell for sure.

Starring at the item in the snow, I was glad that there were no people on the street, or even driving around, on such a cold day. Last thing I needed would be for someone who knew me spreading around that I was now starring randomly at garbage. I turned to leave, intending to get home before I was missed, but stilled abruptly. The raging in my veins turning frighteningly cold as a small misty release rose up from the snow.

* * *

"You can't keep it."

I looked up from my tea towards my cousin's face. After giving a weak smile, I returned to staring at my drink. Arthur only sighed, looking back towards his own tea, his spoon clinking against the sides of the cup as he stirred.

"I mean it. You won't be here forever and mum is terribly allergic." I lifted my head up once more to find Arthur staring out into the living room where Perth sat cradling the tiny, towel-wrapped kitten in his arms. Peter and Sydney sat on either side of him, taking turns stroking its soft fur. Arthur turned back towards me and continued.

"I would never have let you bring it here in the first place if the veterinary's would have let it stay there instead. I know how easily you four get attached to animals."

"I know. I'll find someone who can keep it in a few days once it gets a bit better." The kitten would not need long to heal, it had been cut on the face when a passing car had hit and sent some debris in the road flying. Other than that, the only problem was a degree of malnourishment. All that I would need to do would be to monitor the kitten for infection and feed it. I rose, moving towards the sink to wash out my cup and place it in the strainer.

"I'm going out to by some kitten food." I said, grabbing my wallet off the counter. It was considerably lighter than it was earlier today. The vet visit claiming all cash that I had on hand and more.

"There's some on the living room table." Arthur replied shortly before promptly storming out of the kitchen at my knowing grin.

* * *

By the time that I had made my way back to Sunny Hill again on the following Friday afternoon, I had developed a plan. Since Ludwig appeared to have no answers for me, I thought I would try asking Hari's "neighbors" instead. I would just have to go around asking the other tenets what they knew about Hari. I would start with the closest tenet "Lovi" whose room was on the same floor.

I did not go to visit Hari immediately, instead I stopped short at the door with the tomato plaque. Cautiously, not quite sure what to expect from the other tenets living here, I gave the door a sturdy knock. Almost immediately the door was wrenched open, a scowling young man appearing out of the room.

"Where the fuck have—" An angry question coming to a halt as his angry face morphed to shocked confusion and then back to angry. Clearly, I had not been who he was expecting. With an olive complexion, dark umber hair, and pine green eyes, he could be called handsome if not for the furious expression on his face.

"Who the hell are you?" The man bit.

"Hey…" I trail not sure what to say to the person in front of me now that I was actually in the situation.

"My name's Jett. I'm a volunteer and—"

"For fuck's sake!" The man cried, slamming the door back closed in my face.

"I'm not here to bother you." I reasoned, now to the door. Slowly, it creaked halfway back open, the man's scowling face becoming visible again.

"Really?" The man's doubtfully face and sarcastic tone replied back.

"Yeah, I just wanted to ask about Hari." I assured him.

"I don't know a Hari." The man stated in a matter-of-fact tone, moving to close the door again. It was too late, however, for I had seen the man's eyes flash towards Hari's room before coming back to me just as quickly. I had no doubts that even if he did not know about Hari, he did at least know Hari. Against all politeness and better judgment, I slammed my foot between the door and its frame, preventing the man from closing it completely.

"The hell!?" The man exclaimed all the while trying to close the door despite my foot blocking the way.

"Please, mate. I'm not asking for anything personal. Just anything."

"Piss off!"

"Be nice Lovi."

"Yeah, be nice Lo—wait, huh?" I stumbled over my words as I moved sideways to see what was behind me. There, standing with possibly the most clueless smiling face I had ever seen, was a double of the man. Or at least that was what the initial shock led me to believe. The two looked almost identical, except the second one had a lighter complexion and auburn hair.

"Hello~!" The man nearly sang. He was bouncing slightly on his heels as well in a strange, sugar-induced way.

"Hey."

"I'm Feliciano~." The man grabbed one of my hands in both of his and began shaking it up and down rapidly.

"I'm Jett." I mimicked back, voice a bit stumbled due to the other's rapid shaking.

"That's my brother Lovino~." He directed his head to the one in the doorway.

"Okay."

"Feli!" Lovino's furious voice interrupted.

"Are you here to see Lovi?" Feliciano continued without even acknowledging his brother.

"Like fuck he is!"

"No. Just asking about Hari." I stated without thinking. My brain was slowly allowing me to finally catch up with what was going on.

"Hari…Hari…" Feliciano outwardly pondered wrapping one arm around himself and bringing the other up under his chin in thought. He did not have much time to do anything more for Lovino butted in before Feliciano seemed to even form a whole thought.

"Listen, we have nothing to say to you. So take off." Lovino reached passed me grabbing his brother's arm in an attempt to drag the other into his room with him.

"VE! The one who won't eat pasta!" Feliciano yelled, somehow holding pretty steady against his brother's attempts to budge him.

"You're talking about the guy next door right?" I excitedly asked back. I was surely overly excited, but to my credit, the fact that Hari would not eat pasta was far more information than I had ever gotten before.

"Ve! He won't eat my pasta…" Feliciano looked close to tears by his own confession.

"He won't eat anything anyone gives him, moron." Lovino said breathlessly, his attempts to move his brother paused at the moment.

"He eats what Elizabeta feeds him…"

"No he really doesn't." Lovino kept shifting his gaze towards me. His signals went seemingly unnoticed by his brother.

"Why only Miss Héderváry?" I asked Lovino, taking advantage of his focus on his brother.

"I already told you he doesn't!" Realizing his mistake almost immediately, Lovino continued on. "And fuck off!"

"MATTHEW!" Feliciano yelled, jabbing his finger at me.

"What? No mate, I'm—"

"He means Matthew on the second floor, stupid!"

"…And **he** can tell me about Hari?"

"Chigi!" Lovino slammed his head into the door frame.

"Hari eats Matthew's pancakes." Feliciano assured triumphantly.

"Fucking hell, Feli!" Lovino snapped and with that, Lovino slammed his door shut, leaving both Feliciano and myself alone in the hallway. I smiled nervously at Feliciano, hopping he wasn't upset at being refused by the person he had come to see. Feliciano just looked back at me and smiled sweetly.

"Why don't you try giving Hari some food, ve~? It might make him happy." He offered.

If I gave Hari food, would he start talking to me like he did with Miss Héderváry? I shook the thought off quickly, the image from my last visit creating a sick feeling in my stomach.

"No, I don't think that will work. At least it doesn't seem to be working for Antonio."

Lovino's door swished back open, almost slamming right into us.

"He **WHAT**!?"

I did not wait to hear anything else –I now had the name and location of someone who was on good enough terms with Hari to feed him successfully. It wasn't much, but by the sounds of it, that connection was the best I was going to get at the moment.

I turned and raced back down the hall towards the staircase yelling my thanks as I went. With Lovino's angry yells behind me, I rushed down the stairs I swung on the rail, swerving to face the second floor's hallway.

"…dication should take effect soon." I slowed down my pace upon hearing the unfamiliar, elegant voice. Ahead, the third door of the hallway was open. Miss Héderváry and a dark-umber haired man were exiting the room speaking in low tones.

"He's going to be a bit fatigued as usual, so make sure he stays in bed until he sleeps it off." The man told Miss Héderváry as he clicked shut a black bag and pushed square-rimmed frames up his nose. The two were fairly close before they noticed me. Miss Héderváry noticed me first with a smile and a wave. Her friend noticed the action before directing his attention to where I was standing. I moved aside to let them pass, but the man stopped when we reached each other.

"Mr. Jett Kirkland, I assume?" He inquired.

"Ah, yes I'm Jett." I replied wondering if I should have any clue who the person in front of me was. He merely lifted his hands to remove some medical gloves that I had not noticed before.

"I knew we would run into each other eventually. I am Doctor Roderich Edelstein." He held his now bare hand towards me which I shook briefly. It felt a bit odd in comparison to the energetic handshake I had received from Feliciano not ten minutes earlier. Lifting up his hand, he pulled back his sleeve to glance at a decorative watch on his wrist.

"Forgive me, but I am running late. We will have to talk again later." He pulled his sleeve back down and nodded to me once. Then he was off as quickly as he had come with Miss Héderváry trailing not far behind.

I turned back towards the hallway, intent on continuing my search for Matthew's room, just in time to see Sadik exiting the very room that the Doctor and Miss Héderváry had exited from. I almost ran. The impulse to do that or something similar was terribly strong. Only Sadik's sharp point in my direction kept me rooted to the spot as he made his way over to me. Even if I had run, however, Sadik would probably just chase me down. He seemed the type to be used to others running from him.

"He—" I began when Sadik reached me. He cut me off quickly with another point which he held.

"Not a word." He whispered harshly before beckoning me to follow him back down the corridor. I reluctantly followed until we reached the entrance of the house. He opened the door and stood to the side so that walk past and out onto the porch. Not fast enough for him as he shoved my back, causeing me to stumble out the door. Sadik did not bother exiting Sunny Hill himself, choosing to simply stand in the doorway whilst he spoke.

"Heard some commotion and figured someone was here. I have a job for you." Sadik stated simply, his voice still lower than his normal angry pitch. "There's a rat out in the garden. I want you to catch it."

"A …rat?" I questioned looking around at the snowy surroundings.

"Yes, stupid. A rat. We don't want to use poison or traps, so you're going to have to catch it yourself."

"With what?" I asked him somewhat stupidly as I continued to look around for some sort of way to understand my new task.

"Figure it out, moron." Sadik replied lamely, moving back inside the house. "But be quiet and don't come back till you find it!"

With that, a door was slammed in my face once again. This time I was left out in the cold and even further away from Matthew or anyone else. With a sigh, I walked down the steps and made my way to one of the sides of the building. The only thing I could really do is look for the rat that Sadik was complaining about. If I found it, then I could always try and trap it and release it elsewhere.

A movement, however, caught my attention as I was rounding the side of the house. I looked upwards, stopping short to process that which I was seeing.

There was a person climbing up the side of the house. I did not give myself much time to process much else before I found myself charging forward. I grabbed the person by their ankle and with a rough yank and a curse from the other party, had the man on the ground by my feet in a second.

"Who are you!?" I bit out at the maybe-burglar who at this point was turning over onto his knees.

"Vell, vho the fuck are you!?" The man asked angrily, glaring at me with oddly red-toned eyes.

"I'm a volunteer here." I said, my voice as defensive as my stance still was.

"Vell, I'm visiting a friend of mine that's staying here." The man muttered while slowly lifting himself back to his feet and brushing snow off himself. It was then that I realized that not all the stuff on his head was snow—the man had white hair.

His excuse made some sense. In my own few visits to Sunny Hill, I had met a great number of other visitors. None of them, however, seemed to need to climb a garden fence to see any tenant.

"Why not just use the front door?"

The man did not answer right away. He seemed to be carefully pondering what he should say.

"Vell,…have you met Sadik?" He asked, his voice dead flat. I did not even have to answer; my facial expression must have told him all he needed.

"Yeah, I figured if you're out here. Now imagine Sadik and multiply that by about five and you get me climbing up a garden fence in the middle of vinter…and spring…and summer…and…vell you understand."

I took this time to look over the garden fence. It was an odd metal one that appeared to have been bolted into the wall. The fence was made up of several segments that covered the entire side of the building. They measured perfectly, stopping just short of the second floor windows.

An idea struck me. Certainly not a clever one, but with no rat in sight and time wasting, I really could not think of a better one. Well, other than buying a rat at a pet store and presenting it to Sadik as his rodent culprit. I looked over at the other, who was still whipping off his black jeans and coat. He was still grumbling something incoherent to himself.

"You sneak inside often?" I asked, trying not to sound too intrigued. The other regarded me quietly for a moment before slowly responding.

"Ja…" The man replied guardedly.

"Have you ever been caught?" I continued.

"Vhy?" The man led on. Still not giving away any of the details to his break-ins. The man had shoved his hands in his pockets, stepping away slightly as if prepared to either flee or for a fight. I did not see any point in lying, so I answered truthfully.

"There's someone I want to talk to, but I can't get past Sadik long enough." My answer must have hit a nerve because the man's posture visibly slackened while his voice became noticeably less forceful.

"…Vho do you vant to talk to?"

"I want to ask Matthew on the second floor about Hari on the third."

The man did not reply for a long while. His head moving slightly to the side as he continued to stare at me. Finally, he answered:

"Breaking in's illegal." He stated in a matter-of-fact manner.

It was not as if I did not know that. I really could not understand why someone who apparently breaks in all the time would bother bringing up the obvious. One would think a breaking-and-entering would be the least of his concerns. Then again, I had signed in as a volunteer when I arrived, so how much trouble could I get into for being in the building during visiting hours? Besides, Hari's thin frame passing through my mind, I wanted to know more about Hari as soon as possible. I could not do that by staying away.

I looked the man in the eyes and replied. "I know…but I really need to speak with Matthew."

The man watched me a moment more before breaking into a large, pointy-toothed smile. He moved to my side and smacked me playfully on the back.

"How about a deal, then? If you tell no one about this," the man gesturing around "I vill help you sneak back in to talk to Matthew."

All thoughts about him being a thief lessening at the prospect of finally getting to meet with Matthew.

"Deal!" I replied back eagerly. The man turned back towards the fence, a smile still etched onto his face.

"Come on then." The man said as he began resuming the climb I had interrupted. Watching him climb, I slowly followed his example. Gripping the fence, I placed my foot on one of the crossings to test my weight before following the man up the fence. When the man reached the window, he tapped at the glass twice before he pushed the window upwards and climbed into the room.

I climbed to the widow seal in time to see another young man helping the first one stand up straight.

"Gotta surprise for you Birdie." The red-eyed man replied to the other who gave the other a somewhat doubtful look before violet eyes focused on me. I froze halfway into the room as the second man gipped the first's arm and pulled it unconsciously as he took a step backwards.

It was "Mattie", the one I had crashed into on my last visit. "Mattie" who apparently lived on the second floor of Sunny Hill. I pulled myself completely into the room, gently shutting the window behind me. Matthew kept looking franticly between the red-eyed man and myself.

"This guy wanted to speak with you. So I brought him up." The red-eyed man said jokingly while smiling reassuringly at the other. Matthew gave him a somewhat upset look and I took that as my cue to interject.

"Sorry…Matthew, right? Um, we've actually met before if you remember." Matthew did not answer from behind his friend, so I continued.

"Well…I heard that you are friends with Hari on the third floor." At this statement, Matthew peaked from behind the other, giving him a quick look.

"I was wondering if you could tell me about him." I wondered if I was making any sense at all. Maybe Matthew only spoke French or something.

Instead of answering me, Matthew shared another quick look with the red-eyed man who then turned to me answering for Matthew.

"Like vhat?"

"Anything really. Even just stuff he likes or something."

The red-eyed man looked back to Matthew and while I really could not read the answer they shared, I knew that I did not like it. I had a feeling I was about to run right back into the same situation that I had experienced with Lovino.

A feeling of dread filled me and I began to motion to them in a pleading manner before a sudden buzzing started to resound throughout the room. Matthew quickly turned towards his own desk, where a vibrating cellphone and a simple sketchpad lay. Matthew took a quick glance at the message, his eyes widening fearfully as he shoved his phone towards the red-eyed man.

The red-eyed man did not even bother to read the message. In a flash, he had rushed past me, throwing open Matthew's wardrobe, jumping in, and slamming it closed behind him. Not thirty seconds later, Matthew's room door slammed open against the wall, a beaming Alfred standing with a frowning Arthur behind him.

"Hey Mattie! Have you seen…" Alfred trailed as he caught sight of me. "There you are! Told you I could find him Arthur!"

"You didn't need to!" Arthur snapped back at him, but Alfred just ignored him. He was far more excited with retelling current events.

"Jett, you didn't tell me you were Arthur's cousin! Me and Arthur, we know each other and he said you were visiting today. So I told him he could come with me and we could visit together and…what are you doing in Mattie's room?"

_Just climbing into your brother's room with a mysterious guy who obviously should not be here and is currently hiding in the wardrobe._

The best thing, I decided, would be to leave out some of the day's details. Arthur was studying the room's contents with a bored expression. Matthew's attention was focused on his brother, his cellphone still gripped in his hand handing limply to his side and slightly hidden behind his leg. Obviously Matthew did not want Alfred seeing it.

"Well, I'm supposed to be visiting Hari, but—"

"Oh, I forgot about him! HEY HARI!" he yelled at the ceiling.

I quickly gestured for him to keep it down. The volume probably did not matter much in the midday, but I doubt anyone would appreciate Alfred's enthusiasm in the hospital setting. For certain Sadik would not.

"You'll probably just upset Lovino—"

"Him too! HEY LOVINO!"

"FUCK YOU!"

Huh, or maybe they could hear us. A part of me was relieved at the thought that I was not the only person that Hari adamantly ignored.

"**SHUT UP**!" An angry voice whisper-yelled, ending my brief relief and making every person in the room whirl around. Sadik had appeared on the scene, most likely a result of Alfred's unfortunately loud actions in the last few minutes. After a quick review of every potential victim in the room, Sadik stormed in towards us.

"Is a little quiet so much to ask you freaking half-wits for?" He yelled while glaring between us. He passed me over and for a moment I thought I was safe. Then Sadik's head shot back in my direction, crushing the small hope.

"I thought I told you to go catch that rat!?" he growled. I threw my hands up in defense, answering before I could think properly.

"I did catch something."

Sadik halted for a second, seemingly stunted by my answer.

"Well, where is it?" He countered when he had gotten over his confusion.

I did not miss the fearful and desperate look in Matthew's eyes when they shot in my direction.

"It ran off and hid somewhere." I replied lamely. Sadik merely huffed.

"Lying little bastard…You think you can just come sneaking in here and not get caught?" I did not answer right away. Not quite sure how to explain myself without giving the red-eyed man away. Even if it meant trouble, he had led me to Matthew and I had promised him silence in return. Sadik only grew angrier at my silence and opened his mouth to continue his rant. He was not given the chance as Matthew roughly tugged at his brother's shirt sleeve. Immediately, Alfred spoke up.

"It isn't like that Sadik. I'll help Jett catch the rat!" Alfred loudly exclaimed, trying to ease my situation.

"Shh! This has nothing to do wi—"

"What's…going on…?"

With this simple, highly accented, sentence, the whole room suddenly froze in ice. A quick glance around revealed that both Alfred and Matthew had gone completely ridged in place. The nervousness that they had been expressing just a moment before had in an instant mutated into a full-blown frozen terror. I could almost feel Gilbert, still hidden in the wardrobe, holding his breath in an attempt to melt into the darkness.

Looking over towards the room's entrance, I saw that there was a new person who I had never seen before in the doorway. He could not have been any older than myself, but my guess would be that he was even younger. He stood barefoot and dressed in simple blue pajamas. His light silver hair and pale complexion making him seem ghostly in comparison to the dark flush on his cheeks. He was clinging to the frame in an apparent attempt to remain standing.

I turned my attention back to Sadik once again, whatever I had meant to say flying completely out of my mind as I jerked back in a complete mimic of the other's terror.

Sadik's previous furious expression had at some point during my few seconds of observation morphed into down-right murderous. His arms lifted halfway out, hands clenching and unclenching several times as is eyes travelled between myself and the others. Alfred had migrated to stand in front of Arthur and Matthew in a sad attempt to block them from Sadik's view.

Rather than attacking however, what Sadik did next was probably the most terrifying thing I had seen from him to date. He closed his eyes and with a silent, deep breath, opened them again. His face now taking on an expression that was so far unseen by myself: calm. Sadik then lowered his arms and straightened himself back up, turning to face the young man at the door.

"Nothing." He said dismissively, moving over to the other and gently putting his hands on the young man's shoulders to help steady him.

_WHAT THE HELL?_

I looked, dumbfounded, at the others in the room. Surprisingly, Sadik's complete change of face had not affected Alfred and Matthew at all. They still looked terrified, but a cloud of guilt was hovering over their faces now.

Alfred shuffled his feet and spoke up guiltily. "You sick again, dude?" His tone level making the young man wince.

"No, he's at the peak of perfect fucking health." Sadik grit sarcastically though his voice still was void of anger.

"We're sorry…we were just trying to catch a rat…." Alfred continued, this time keeping his voice at a lower tone.

"Mmn…a rat…?" the young man questioned, bleary violet eyes attempting to focus on Alfred while one of his hands moved up to grasp Sadik's arm for support.

"It's nothing. Let's just get you back to bed." Sadik implored the young man, gently turning him around so that he could guide him away. He stopped long enough to look over his shoulders at us, voice still calm but face once again angry. "Visiting hours are over today. All of you had better be gone when I get back."

"We should go…now. Sorry Mattie." Alfred whispered once Sadik was safely out of the room, motioning for Arthur and I to follow him out. Matthew just nodded in understanding, not meeting his brother's eyes. With a wave, Alfred rushed out the door, Arthur setting a more leisurely pace behind him, halting to glance around the hallway. He then leaned backwards back into the room.

"He's going to suffocate in there." He commented dryly before finally walking out. Matthew began wringing his hands nervously, staring at the floor. It would probably be best if I called it a day. Would not want to push my luck any more today then I already had. I definitely did not want to be here when Sadik got back and the red-eyed man could not stay in the closet forever.

"Well, I guess we'll have to talk later?" Matthew did not answer. "Alright then, …see you Matthew."

I walked out, shutting Matthew's door behind me for him. I ran a hand through my hair as I made my way back towards the entrance. So far, it looked as if the only person who knew anything about Hari would not be sharing anytime soon.

A sudden tug on the back of my shirt broke me from my musings. I looked back to find Matthew holding onto my shirt with one hand. In his other, he was holding up a simple sketchbook that had a single word written at the top of the page.

_Animals._

"Huh?" I replied, cocking an eyebrow at the page. Matthew let go of my shirt, pulling a pen from the sketchbook's spiral binding and turned the pad back towards himself to scribble something quickly. He then held the sketchpad back towards me, the page now holding a second sentence beneath the first.

_Hari loves them._

I leaned in towards the message as if it was a riddle. I had to re-read it several times, my mind blanking out with the realization that I might have just acquired something that could work.

"Jett…" Alfred's whispering voice said from the opposite direction excitedly. "Are you hungry?"

I replied without really even understanding the question that I was being asked. At this point I was too busy focusing on Matthew and his message to pay attention to anything else.

"Yeah…"

* * *

Thank you for reading!


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